A police officer accused of stalking and sexually assaulting a prostitute was being blackmailed and just desperate for someone to talk to, a jury has heard.

PC Irshad Kamal, 44, who is accused of forcibly grabbing the woman’s breasts in a public place, inundating her with phone calls and text messages and loitering outside her house, has been suspended from duty at Wimbledon police station. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

He told the court that the reason for his repeated efforts to contact the sex worker was because she had threatened to out him as a client.

The victim denies this allegation, and told the court that if she was going to blackmail someone, it would be one of her large number of influential and high profile celebrity clients instead.

Phone records show that he contacted the victim more than 240 times between November 1, 2013 and November 12, 2014.

He is also accused of loitering outside her house.

Court hears policeman stalked sex worker for a year

PC Kamal’s barrister, Simon Pentol, insisted the phone records demonstrate PC Kamal’s “pathetic” desperation to have someone to talk to, and added that after his arrest the custody sergeant was concerned he was a suicide risk.

He said: “On any view we need to think that this defendant, and I hope he will forgive me, presents as a sad little man of a plainly nervous disposition, even though he’s a police officer, living at home with his mother and sister, needing to go online to find a sex worker to fulfil his sexual needs.”

PC Kamal, who wore a dark suit and green patterned tie on Thursday, September 24, cried several times during his barrister’s speech.

He was arrested after the victim posted his description and telephone number on the ‘Ugly Mugs’ website, to warn other sex workers about him.

The victim did not include her claim of sexual assault in the posting, but did detail his aggressive behaviour and constant attempts to contact her.

Mr Pentol disputed the allegation PC Kamal’s conduct had caused the victim serious alarm or distress, or a substantial adverse effect on her usual day to day activities.

The prostitute, who described PC Kamal as having a “whorephobic” negative attitude to sex workers, saved his number in her phone under the name ‘not sure to see again demanding Asian’.

Georgina Gibbs, for the prosecution, asked the jury to put aside any prejudices they may have about sex workers.

She said: “Mr Kamal didn’t bother to check whether she consented one way or another. His only interest was his own sexual gratification.

“He’s not a child. He’s not an overenthusiastic dog. He’s a grown adult man with nine years in the police force before this incident. He should have known what boundaries there were.”

PC Kamal first contacted the victim after finding her profile on the website Adultwork.com in November 2013, where she offered "the girlfriend experience" to clients and charged around £130 an hour.

After the sexual assault, PC Kamal tried using different phone numbers, names and putting on different accents in his efforts to convince the victim to make another booking for him, it is alleged.

On one occasion the victim said she did not realise it was him until he had entered her flat, forcing her to physically push him out of the door. He is accused of returning to outside the flat 20 minutes later, begging to see her, before eventually leaving.

His final attempt to speak to her, in November 2014 – some six months after their last contact – prompted the victim to report him on ‘Ugly Mugs’.

PC Kamal was arrested at his home on Bramfield Road, Wandsworth, on November 20, 2014. He faces one charge of sexual assault and one charge of stalking. His bail conditions stated that he could not visit brothels or contact sex workers while he awaited trial.

The trial continues.